Passover Panic

Just weeks after the 1979 3 Mile Island Incident, my parents A"H stayed in a hotel for Passover somewhere in Pennsylvania.

But that Notorious Nuclear incident itself did not trigger the "Great Passover Panic of 1979".

Rather, it turns out that the hotel ran out of coffee about a day or so after the s'darim were over. In fact, there WAS indeed more Kosher for Passover Coffee available, but it simply had the "Wrong" Hashgachah! And so the hotel's Mashgicihim were delaying getting coffee until they could procure the "Right" brand.

After the Panic, a near riot ensued. Think of Paris in 1789, "Let them drink tea", or Petrograd 1917, "Let them eat Matzah!" Under such duress, the Kashrut Agency caved and allowed another brand of Coffee to be imported, that which carried a rival organization's supervision.

And so, the famous Passover Panic of 1979 ended on a high note, as the now caffeinated guests drank away their concerns re: 3 Mile Island and happily lived in the After Glow for many years thereafter.

Kol Tuv,
RRW